(1) Field of the Invention
This invention related to the feeding of fibrous material into a press for baling. More specifically, it pertains to facilitating the rapid change of the belt which conveys the material to the press.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Machines for ginning cotton have been known in the art since Eli Whitney's invention was patented in 1794. Modifications and improvements on the original machine have been made until the machines generally used today are quite efficient. As recently as 1968, the basic machine has been improved by the implementation of new bale typing and packaging techniques. To a great degree, the improvements now being made on the cotton gin go to the prevention of lost "down time" and not to general changes in the gin machinery.
As the capacity of gins has increased, greater strain has been placed on the components and as a result they wear out faster and must be replaced more often. Many components of the gin machinery may only be changed while the whole gin is stopped. This is the case with the lint feeder belt.
Lint cotton is prepared for baling by first condensing the ginned lint into a batt by air-feeding the cotton onto a slowly turning wire mesh drum. The batt is forwarded through a lint chute onto a lint feeder. The lint feeder is made up of a conveyor belt, either with or without cleats, a housing for the belt and rollers. At least one of the rollers rotatably driven by chain or belt drive. This rotation imparts motion to the belt. The lint feeder feeds the batt into the press. In preparation for baling, the batt is tramped down about ten times per bale. The belt must stop each time the tramper descends and start again after it is raised. This stopping and starting causes wear and tear on the belt. Most high speed gins average processing about 12 bales per hour, though the capacity may be considerably higher. Also, during the ginning season the machinery may run 20 to 24 hours per day. Therefore, the belt may stop and start around 3000 times per day.
Heretofore, the belts commonly used to convey the batt into the press could not be of the "endless" type but were laced belts. The laced belts are used because installing a never ending belt was an arduous task, if not impossible althogether, without completely breaking the machine down. A laced belt is installed by training the belt over the rollers, aligning the belt over the rollers, aligning the teeth of the lace with one another then inserting a pin through the teeth. The laced belts wear out at the teeth of the laces due to friction with the rollers. Never ending belts do not have such a weak point and so last longer with less wear and tear on the rollers.
The lint feeder housings of gins in use today are made cleanable by doors on the side of the housing which open between the runs of the belt. Changing of the belt in most models is accomplished by removing the bottom of the housing. After the bottom is withdrawn, the rollers and belt are visible but not very accessable. In order to more easily change the belt, the rollers may be dropped down. The rollers are dropped down by removing the axles from bearing housings at either end of the axles. This is accomplished by loosening a set screws then driving the axles out of the set collar. This is clearly quite a task. In order to replace the axles and rollers into position, the axles must be blindly reinserted through the rollers and into the bearing housings. The blind insertion is very difficult and time consuming at best. Obviously, the time consumed by this process is great especially when it is considered that the whole gin is idled during the process.
To the best of applicants' knowledge, there is no lint feeder housing which is designed to facilitate a more rapid and efficient method of change the lint feeder belt.
In recent years, synthetic fibrous materials have been used and the equipment for baling these fibers is substantially identical to cotton lint equipment.